A Dalek and her Doctor
by ticatoast
Summary: Prison, poison. Aliens, scars. Promises, lies. Loss, triumph. Acts taken out of both love and hate. A box (or two). And never enough time for goodbye. A series of one-shots featuring the Doctor and Clara. Both need and both want, but most importantly, both love.
1. 1) Reflection

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;color:#2c3635;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;""What do you mean, you're not here?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;color:#2c3635;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;""Exactly what I said."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;color:#2c3635;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;""But... but you're standing right here. In front of me."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;color:#2c3635;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;""I'm really not. I'm a mirage, a reflection. This isn't the real me."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;color:#2c3635;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;""No. That's not possible." She reached her hand forward, placing it against his chest. "You are here."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;color:#2c3635;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;""I'm sorry Clara. But this isn't me." He paused. "Well, not me. I've taken his place, for a minute. So we can chat."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;color:#2c3635;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;""Chat, Doctor?" She asked incredulously./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;color:#2c3635;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;""Chat, Clara", he answered, reaching forward t/spano tuck a brown lock behind her ear. "That should be plenty of time for our goodbyes." He was being remarkably still for him, not flapping his hands or running about./p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;color:#2c3635;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;""/spanThere's not enough time." Her voice cracked slightly on the last word./p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;color:#2c3635;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;""For..." The Doctor trailed off./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;""There is never enough time for you, Doctor." Clara said, blinking back tears. Now that she was over her shock at seeing him again, her emotions were starting to break through. "You were always running, running after everyone and everything. You didn't have enough time to do everything and see everything. And for us," she squeezed her eyes shut, "all the time in the world wouldn't be enough."/p 


	2. 2) Locked

_I don't own Doctor Who, only my own imagination._

"How could you do this to me, Clara?" His voice cracked, rusty, his eyes pleading with her. "How could you?"

She looked at him, then dropped her gaze as if ashamed. "I had to."

He stared at her through the bars. Why had she done it? They were so happy, best friends. And she had gone and dashed his heart against a stone, not even bothering to pick up the pieces.

"Why?!" He suddenly yelled, slamming down his hand. Clouds of dust appeared, swirling through the dim light. "I asked so little of you, Clara. So little. You were my companion, my friend. My-" his voice broke "-impossible girl."

Clara lifted her head slowly, daring to look him in the eye. "It was necessary."

"For what?" he begged her, "for what? What was so great that you could just leave me here?"

"For the cause."

Her voice was so cold, so suddenly, it chilled both of his hearts. Where had his happy Clara gone, the one who laughed at all of his ridiculous jokes? Made fun of him and his chin? Who went everywhere with him willingly, and on occasion did the hand-grabbing-and-running bit?

"It was necessary." Her voice startled him, but she was only repeating what she had said before. Sighing, he leaned his head against the bars and looked up into her eyes. Clara stared into his gaze, returning it as if daring him to blink first. To blink. He smiled slightly as the two-word phrase reminded him of happier days, running with previous companions. Even when he was running for his life, he was happy. Just like Clara used to make him.

Her eyes held no remorse in them. They were hard blocks set in her head, simply watching him. She swallowed, and then blinked, still staring. But now her eyes seemed tired. Still cold, but... tired. Suddenly, Clara glanced away, staring towards the floor.

"It was necessary. Otherwise... too many things would have happened. Bad things."

"Like what?" he pressed, his breath swirling the dusty air.

"The end of you and me. The end of our world, and time, together."

He gasped, in shock. "That's why you locked me up? Hid me away, took my TARDIS, threw away the key?" He suddenly laughed throatily. "You afraid of loosing me Clara? That's why?!"

"You had to leave me at some point. I knew all the stories. Lost, abandoned, left by their own measures. Dead. That's how all of your companions end up. Gone." Clara's voice said scathingly. "I would just be another name on a long list of companions. Some new, younger, prettier girl would saunter into your life and you'd forget me."

"Never!" he burst out, shocked by what she had said. "I would never abandon you!"

"Oh, are you sure?" She arched an eyebrow, any of the tiredness that was left quickly disappearing from her face. "What about Sarah-Jane Smith, hmm?"

His hearts thumped together as he took in what she said. She was saying he would just leave his impossible girl behind, and move onto someone else. He shook his head slightly. This couldn't be his Clara. Clara had done this to him, but... she wasn't this temperamental. She wouldn't be so harsh to him, so far-away.

"Besides," Clara said, softer than the scathing tone she had used seconds ago, "You would've eventually learned my secret." She hesitated. "I knew."

"Knew what?" he asked curiously, the words slipping out.

"I knew about being the other versions of me. I could remember bits and pieces of it, not the whole lives, just meeting the Doctor and saving him. Well, not when I first him, you. In this body. I had no idea who you were when you helped me with the Internet and started the whole great thing. But later, bits and pieces started to enter my mind, just of you. The Doctor. I gained whole lives later, at Trenzalore. But I knew."

Just when he was sure she would never come back, she had to come, stir up old memories, and then drop the bomb on him. "How long have I been in here?"

The question startled her slightly, he could tell. Clara straightened. "Why?"

"Just tell me."

"A long time."

"Exact time, Clara!"

"Fine." Her voice was bitter. "A few months past 50 years."

"Why did you come now? Why after so long? Why did you look the same as you did when you put me in this place?! How could YOU, my impossible girl, do this to ME?!" He screamed, sudden rage sweeping through him. Clara had never told him this. Nothing. Only to keep him. Lose him. Safe. Secrets, lies. Abandoned. 50 years of torture, all alone. His thoughts flickered through his head like wildfire.

"Doctor."

With that one word, all of his thoughts stopped, his hearts slowing, his eyes blinking in wonder. What was that? It felt like so long, so long! He hadn't been called that in so long. It sounded like Clara, the old Clara, his Clara. The way she would've said it. It had been said with tenderness, filled with love.

Almost without his consent, the question slipped out. "Doctor who?" he whispered quietly.

He looked up and saw Clara staring at him, a hint of a smile on her face at that question. "Doctor," she whispered back. "I'm sorry."

He stared at her as she turned and walked away, moving towards the door that led out of his cell. When she reached the entrance, Clara turned, and he saw her eyes had become cold once more.

"One more thing," she said clearly. "Your daughter says hello."

She swept out of the cell, leaving him alone with only his thoughts, his shock, and the cameras on the walls, always, always, watching him.

X

_Hello! I'm Tica, nice to meet everyone. Not really sure what I'm doing here, but I'll try my hardest. If you have a chance, reviews are always appreciated. _


	3. 3) Questions

_The Doctor's thoughts on Clara. I don't own Doctor Who, only my own imagination._

...

Are you a fairytail? A dream? Just a piece of my imagination that got dragged into the real world? A nightmare left over from the timewar? Because whatever you are Clara, you can't be real.  
You're too... Perfect. For me. For the world!  
What did I do to deserve you Clara? This wonderful, funny, snarky woman who just happens to always be there to save me. And that you have Clara. Saved me. Many times over. Most of the time, you don't even realize it. I'm starting to think this 'Saving the Doctor' thing is written in your genetics. Oh yeah, just popped down to the grocery, bought some bananas, saved the Doctor, went home, saved the Doctor again, took care of the kids, and now I'm off to save the idiot once more, since he can't seem to take care of himself. Oh, and dying while saving him? Peh, no big deal. I don't mind. I'll probably just come back to life and save him again, while not remembering anything that happened before!  
You never stop saving me, and I hope you never will. Because, well, I need you Clara. Every little thing you do, from insulting my bowtie to wearing those bright dresses saves me. And so, please Clara, don't leave me again. If you do, I'm afraid I may not survive this time. So stay, and be my impossible girl. Stay, and save me Clara.

Please.

...

_Please review._


End file.
